Note 4 — XVI

Spanish economic backwardness.Besides, in Spain itself matters are no better. The means of communication there are so very deficient that, as an instance, merchandise is sent from Santander to Barcelona, round the whole Iberian peninsula, in preference to the direct route, which is partly accomplished by railway.4 In Estremadura the hogs were fed with wheat (live animals can be transported without roads), while at the same time the seaports were importing foreign grain.5 The cause of this condition of affairs in that country is to be sought less in a disordered state of finance, than in the enforcement of the Government maxim which enjoins the isolation of separate provinces.